COVID19 pandemic may delay SDG’s achievements

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In the 2021 edition of the Financing for Sustainable Development Report, the authors identify an alarming risk concerning the achievement of the 17 SDGs: the COVID19 pandemic’s effect in national economies.

It is widely acknowledged that the pandemic fuelled the economic crisis but it also created opportunities. Countries that were wiling to invest in new technologies and novel underlying work and business models are expected to arise stronger and well prepared in the new, post-Covid economical landscape. These countries may not only keep a steady pace towards achieving the SDGs on time, but they could also show signs of acceleration towards these goals.

On the other hand, there are countries with limited resources that are not expected to be ready for the post-Covid era and find themselves in a more severe cycle of poverty, hunger, debt and austerity. Reaching the SDGs timely in these countries will be extremely difficult.

Overall, the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor countries will have severe consequences and an initial prediction is that this gap could push achievement of the SDGs another ten years into the future.

The report calls for immediate action proposing, mainly, economic measures to mitigate the gap risk. The question is, will the whole world be able to reach the SDGs as one and if not, what will be the impact of such a situation?

The report is published annually ahead of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up and the 2021 edition can be found here:  https://developmentfinance.un.org/fsdr2021

Article compiled by: HOU


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